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PaperLab takes in rubbish and spits out fresh paper

Epson has developed what they call "the first ever in-office paper recycling machine", which takes used documents and turns them into clean, white, blank sheets -- in just three minutes.

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The PaperLab, which Epson claim will "revolutionise recycling" is capable of reusing 14 sheets of A4 paper per minute -- meaning 6,720 sheets could be produced in a regular eight hour day. It can also produce different kinds of paper -- A3 sheets, thick paper for business cards, coloured paper and even scented paper.

The machine works by utilising a "dry process" to recycle and produce the paper. First, the paper is 'fiberised' -- turned into "long, thin, cottony fibers" -- then bound, which adds new substances to change the paper's properties, and finally formed into the shape and size of the final product. Epson haven't given much away about the technical details of the machine, but what we do know is that it requires far less liquid than traditional pulping methods. Because the paper is turned into these fibers, Epson also claim that the machine is a way of destroying and recycling confidential documents.

Epson have also so far not demonstrated the machine working in practice, so it remains to be seen how useful (and, more pertinently, loud, expensive and energy-hungry) the machine would be.

Epson

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It's not the first revolutionary recycling technique, of course.

Back in 2014, WIRED reported on a recycling technique that would turn ground-up old car tyres into asphalt, to improve the quality of ageing roads.

Another, reported in 2013, transformed plastic household waste into the raw materials used in 3D printing by melting down unwanted material and turning into plastic filament, the 'goop' that 3D printers use to form objects.

The Japanese 'Blest Machine' allowed consumers to recycle plastic into oil in their own homes

This remote control car powered itself by turning recycled aluminium scraps -- like ring pulls -- into hydrogen and then into power

Epson say the PaperLab will be put into production in 2016, and a prototype will be displayed next week at the Toyko Big Sight exhibition next week.